It is clear that if I live the life of a Christian, then I change, but do I have to stop being “me”?
Romans 8:29 says that we are to be changed to be like Jesus Christ. There is no greater calling than this! But what does this actually mean? Do we have to change our personalities, our sense of humour and our natural talents, in order to be like Christ?
We are individuals in Christ
God Himself made each one of us. He loves us as we are, and He has given each of us our personalities and talents that are unique to us. We don’t have to change our personalities to become like Christ, but we should follow Him and serve Him as unique individuals. “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. There are different ways of serving, but the same Lord is served. There are different abilities to perform service, but the same God gives ability to all for their particular service.” 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 (GNT).
No matter what personality we have, it isn't so difficult to see that something in ourselves stops us from following Jesus' example of complete purity, patience, love etc. Paul saw this in himself and wrote in Romans 7:21 (NIV): “So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.”
We have a corrupted nature
By nature we don’t react to our situations or to others with the purity, patience and love of Christ. Maybe we say something which sounds harmless, but it actually comes from irritation. Other things that we do daily, as well as our thoughts and words, can be influenced by impure intentions, fear of man, worry, jealousy, pride, selfishness, etc. These things are not a part of the personality God gave us, but they are the tendencies to sin that every person has inherited at birth - this is called "sin in the flesh", or sin in our human nature (Romans 8:3).
The Bible tells us that this is the result of the fall. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, sin came in and got the power in the thoughts and minds of people. (Genesis 6:5.)
Cleanse ourselves
However, Jesus came to offer us a way out of this sinful nature: a way to become completely pure in all we do, to follow Him and be changed to be like Him! John writes in 1 John 3:3 that all those who hope to be like Christ make themselves pure just as Christ is pure.
If we want to be like Jesus, then we cleanse ourselves from everything that goes against the good and perfect will of God, in obedience to the truth. (1 Peter 1:22.) Nothing should be used as an excuse for sin to have power in our lives. We need to use God’s Word to judge our thoughts, words and actions and to separate ourselves from all sin!
“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 (NIV). In other words, we use God’s Word to judge our thoughts and actions and we knowingly reject (or cleanse ourselves from) everything that has its root in sin. Just like Jesus also did as we can read in Romans 8:3.
Read more about this in “Jesus: Pioneer, Forerunner”
Free to serve God just as we are
To become like Christ, we need to cleanse ourselves just as it says in God’s Word, and follow Jesus’ example of saying No to sin in our own human nature. By doing this, we become like Him! Then we are freed out from things like fear of man, worry, jealousy, impurity, pride, and selfishness and we get more of the fruits of the Spirit like patience, kindness, love. We become more and more like Jesus each day.
Sin no longer determines our thoughts and actions! We are free to be ourselves and do and say things out of a pure heart, no matter what personality we have.
God has planned works for each one of us to do. In Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) it’s written, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” There are things that only you and your personality can do and it is God’s desire that He can use both you and your personality to do all kinds of good works!
When we cleanse ourselves from sin, we will become more and more like Christ. Not only that, we will also become more and more free to be an individual in Christ, just as God wants us to be.